Xia Feng endured the pain in his abdomen and regained his elegant scholarly demeanor. He grasped the long nail in his palm and helped the kneeling villagers up.
"Why can't we leave?"
An old man said tremblingly: "Historically, when horse bandits attacked the village, the town officials and soldiers did nothing. Privately, the people said that they were in the same group."
"The horse bandits are very vengeful. In the past, when someone resisted and killed one of their people, the entire village was massacred. If you all leave, we really have no way to survive!"
"Yes, you can't leave. They were originally going to leave after robbing and killing people, but if you get involved, they will come back and massacre the village!"
The complaining words angered Li Dazhuang and the others, making them look unhappy. The man with a knife wound on his shoulder beside Li Dazhuang said angrily: "If we hadn't come, how many of you would have died? Now you blame us!"
The horse bandits not only robbed, but also attacked people with knives. When they came, more than a dozen villagers were dead, and several girls and women in the village were killed. Now these villagers who survived the disaster blame them.
The old man burst into tears and glared at the fellow villager who had just spoken in a warning. He then looked at Xiao Feng and Wan Jinlan, the obvious leaders of the incident, bowed and said sincerely, "It's not that we don't know what's good for us, it's just that the horse bandits have been rampant for too long, and we unarmed people are really scared!"
Xiao Feng solemnly helped the old man up and said, "You don't have to do this. Since we have provoked them, we must naturally deal with the consequences. Please tell me about the situation of this group of horse bandits."
The old man extended his hand and said, "This is not the place to talk. Please follow me."
The old man is the village head, and is considered the village chief, responsible for the affairs of the village.
Wan Jinlan said, "Xia Feng, you go with my husband to find out what's going on. I'll take the people and the villagers to deal with the bodies. Li Dazhuang, you go to the ruined temple to see how the refugees are doing, and then arrange for people to investigate to the west to prevent the bandits from making a comeback."
There are many things to deal with, and we must quickly understand the situation of the horse bandits and decide on the next course of action.
The village doctor lived in a remote area, and his family had taken refuge in a pile of firewood, remaining unharmed. The injured refugees who had followed Xiao Feng were temporarily treated in the vacant house where their entire family had been massacred by bandits.
Accompanied by the wailing and sobbing of the villagers, the villagers burned the bandit's body.
It can be seen that they have no intention of asking the government for help. Wan Jinlan also has a scale in his mind to judge the quality of the local government.
There was only one doctor in the village, and he was busy until three in the morning. Wan Jinlan's arms were sore from working so hard, so after cleaning the long nails, he also bandaged them.
The good skin she had maintained in the past had finally faded away from the bruises, but before the scars had healed, new scars appeared.
"Excuse me, doctor, what is your name?" Wan Jinlan felt that this doctor was quite capable.
Most of the refugees got better after drinking the medicine prescribed by the doctor. Although there were still casualties, there was no large-scale death toll.
"Miangui's surname is Li, and his given name is Fugui."
Wan Jinlan gave a thumbs up and said, "This is a good name. You have superb medical skills and will definitely become rich and powerful in the future."
Li Fugui smiled disapprovingly, his narrow eyes on his square face seemingly unable to open. "I'll waive the consultation fee today, considering you're so kind."
Seeing that he was more talkative than when he was treating the refugees, Wan Jinlan took the opportunity to ask, "Doctor Li, can you treat colds?"
Doctor Li squinted his eyes and said, "In cases of wind-heat disease, the wind-heat first enters the lungs through the skin. The lungs cover the five internal organs, so if the skin is weak, the lungs will be affected..."
Seeing Wan Jinlan staring at him expressionlessly, Doctor Li shut up. He had seen how this young woman removed hidden weapons from a dead body.
He stroked his still-grown mustache and said, "It's not me. It's my master's handwritten notes that record the appropriate prescriptions for different symptoms of cold. When using it on a patient, the dosage must be determined accordingly."
That day, he simply sorted the refugees into categories and gave them three prescriptions for the sake of silver. As for whether they would work or how many people would die, that was not for him to decide.
His master once said that colds aren't incurable. Besides taking symptomatic medication, patients also need to nourish their Qi. In simpler terms, this means eating foods that nourish the body but aren't overly nutritious. But for ordinary people with this condition, even survival is a challenge, so how can they properly nourish their Qi?
Wan Jinlan felt that Doctor Li was a little proud at this moment, so she continued to ask, "Doctor Li, may I ask, what is your master's name?"
The smile on Li Fugui's face faded. "Madam Song, let me remind you that you have caught a cold. If you don't take good care of yourself, you will have trouble having children in the future."
After saying this, Li Fugui turned around and went to the kitchen to boil water.
Wan Jinlan was stunned on the spot and didn't even know when Xiao Feng arrived.
When he held her hand, Wan Jinlan came back to her senses, stared at him and said word by word: "If I don't have children in this life, you can't have any either!"
Ever since she entered Prince Qi's mansion early, her life has been a mess, so there is no time to dream about having children.
She didn't know what the future would hold. She only knew that if her body became ill and she couldn't have children, Xiao Feng would absolutely not be able to have children either! She was so unreasonable, unvirtuous, and vicious.
When she thought about her future as a lonely woman while Xiao Feng had two sons and one daughter and many grandchildren, she clenched her fists.
Although she should take full responsibility for her current situation because of choosing him, she took it for granted that he deserved her.
Xiao Feng pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, "If I have children in this life, they will only be yours."
Li Fugui was stretching his head to look into the yard, and saw Xiao Feng pulling Wan Jinlan towards the kitchen, so he hurriedly picked up a palm-leaf fan to fan the fire.
"I'd like to trouble Dr. Li to take care of Madam Song. As for the consultation fee, we can discuss it."
Wan Jinlan and Xiao Feng had long felt that Li Fugui was no ordinary person. They had never heard of any doctor in the Imperial Medical Bureau who could treat colds in the capital. Not only in this dynasty, but throughout the previous dynasties, colds were major epidemics. Whenever colds appeared and spread, the court would not even send imperial doctors to treat the people, but would choose the most drastic and permanent method.
Li Fugui saw that although Xiao Feng was dressed in shabby clothes, his demeanor exuded nobility and the majesty of a superior. When they first met in the village that day, Li Fugui felt that the man in front of him was not an ordinary person.
At this moment, he stroked his short beard and did not refuse. "If you can solve the problem of horse bandits in the village, I will treat Madam Song for free."
Xiao Feng nodded, "Of course, even if Doctor Li didn't tell me, I would do it."
Xiao Feng took Wan Jinlan to the village headman's house. In the courtyard, he spoke softly, "You stay at the village headman's house today. I'm going out with some people to do some things. If I leave, the villagers will be worried that I will abandon them and run away. If you stay here, they will feel more at ease."
Wan Jinlan frowned, "Are you going to launch a surprise attack on the bandit camp?"
A faint smile flashed across Xiao Feng's eyes. She seemed to always be able to guess what he would do.
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